Neo Unova Journeys
by LightRayPearlshipper
Summary: Ash has finally smartened up! He is now traveling through Unova with Hilda. What dark things hide around the corner? Why is the Chosen One title popping up again. Who are these weird people in black suits with skulls and crossbones? Prepare for an exciting journey through Unova with many new pokemon. Canon and non-canon pokemon are mixed. Rated T because everything I write is T.
1. Home Sweet Home

**Me: Welcome to this Othelloshipping story. I'm having trouble finding final inspiration.**

**Ash: If you were having trouble with inspiration, then why have you even started writing this!**

**Me: Because I have events planned out in my head! Unlike a certain raven-haired trainer in this room, I actually think!**

**Ash: Argh, you-**

**Hilda: Calm down, Ash.**

**Hilbert: Michael, what are you doing pairing up my sister with this… person.**

**Me: For your information, Hilbert, his name is Ash, he has completed all of the leagues in the Four Regions sect, and has met many legendary pokemon before. Also, he is the one human with a pure heart. As a brother, I am sure that you would want the best for your sister, right? Or would you rather have me pair her with that son of a *****… what was his name? Trick? Trigger? Oh yeah… Trip!**

**Hilbert: *Shudders* I'll shut up.**

**Me: Good, because I AM THE ALL-POWERFUL SUPREME AUTHOR! NOW DO THE DISCLAIMER! AND HURRY WITH IT!**

**Hilbert: Okay. Michael doesn't own us so please don't sue him.**

**Me: Muahahahaha!**

**Everyone else: -_-**

**Me: Final note, the theme song goes to the tune of the first Unova theme song. Turn it on on YouTube if you want and sing along. I modified the lyrics.**

* * *

Ash Ketchum glumly walked down the streets of the quaint town of Pallet in Kanto with his head down heading towards Oak's laboratory. One would wonder why he is looking so sad. The response is simple. He felt he didn't do his best in the Lily of the Valley Conference. He was only able to defeat to members of the team that belonged to the trainer who knocked him out of the tournament. Granted, they were legendary pokemon, but he had seen his team's power first hand and knew they were a lot stronger than how they were portrayed. Pikachu had fought Brandon's Regice and won. Sceptile had fought against Deoxys back at the Battle Tower in LaRousse City. Torkoal stood up to Brandon's Registeel and put up a fight. Heracross, Swellow, and Gible were strong overall. So why didn't he win?

When he came back from Sinnoh, the first thing he did was visit his mother. He stayed home for a day, then went out the next day to introduce them, or re-introduce for some, to his Sinnoh team. For a couple of days, he trained and wandered around town. Eventually, he came across a new construction project for a Pokemon Center in planning. He also found a strange project showing a giant battle arena on the plans poster. What made him call it strange was the symbol on it. Everywhere, there were pentagons with circles on each of the points. Each circle was a different color and in the middle, there was something resembling a black and white pokeball.

After a few more minutes of pondering his thoughts, Ash came to Professor Oak's office. _'Here's my destination,'_ he thought. He walked up to the door and knocked. A faint "I'll get it!" came from inside. Tracey opened the door to see to his surprise, or not, Ash.

"Ash, come on in!" Tracey said in greeting. "It's been a while and your pokemon miss you. Congrats on getting so far. Sorry, for your loss, though. Everyone in Pallet was cheering you on."

He lowered his head even further in more shame. _'So everyone already knows what a failure I am. Great,'_ he thought. "Thanks," he said. Stepping inside, he looked around for Professor Oak to greet him, but he was absent. "Hey where's the professor?"

"He's packing for a trip," Tracey said. "He's travelling to somehwere really far away and he's leaving tomorrow."

"I wonder why he called me here. Oh well. I'll wait outside and visit my pokemon. Thanks for the information. Tell the Professor I'm back, okay?"

"Okay." Ash headed towards the door leading to the corral and stepped into the beautiful sight of all of the pokemon on the ranch relaxing in the afternoon.

* * *

_It's always hard when a journey begins._

_But you find your way, and you find your friends._

_There is everything to do and you got the pow'r inside of you._

_I'm sure it is destiny._

_Bringing together you and me._

_And whether you win or lose,_

_You find the path for you._

_And the journey's begun._

_Pokemon!_

* * *

"It's nice to be back. I've almost forgotten how nice this place is," he said to himself as he walked into the corral. He was about to call out to his pokemon and announce his arrival when he heard the sound of a stumbling old man behind him and a voice spoke.

"Hello Ash," Oak greeted. "It's nice to see you back. How are you?"

"I was gonna visit my pokemon while waiting for you. You called me earlier mentioning that you wanted to speak with me."

"Speaking of your pokemon, Gary wanted to discuss something about them with you," Professor Oak mentioned, ignoring the last part temporarily. Even though Gary had been a complete jerk during his time as a pokemon trainer, he had toned down now and he and Ash were on good terms.

"He's back from Sinnoh?" Ash asked, quickly becoming distracted. "I thought he would want to stay longer so he could research the pokemon there.

"Yes, I am back from Sinnoh," a voice said from inside. Everyone turned around to see Gary walking towards them. He was carrying a briefcase with his lab coat draped over it, likely being filled to the brim with files and information. He was wearing his outfit from his time as a trainer with the man-purple shirt and blue jeans. "I got back just recently, actually."

"That's nice. Professor Oak was just saying you wanted to talk to me about something. What is it about?"

"First, let's have a seat. Gramps has a lot of tables set up around the corral so he can sit down and write on a hard surface when he's researching. This might take a while."

"Fine by me," Ash replied. The group of three headed off to one of the many places where they could talk.

"I wanted to talk about your match against Tobias." This caused him to be silent, although there was a plethora of emotions building up in him. "Now calm down, I'm not scolding or mocking you, but did you ever question yourself on _why_ you lost?"

"… Of course!" he exclaimed.

"No, I mean have you ever examined what you have been doing wrong?" This caused Ash to go silent.

Reluctantly, he confessed, "No."

"There are multiple reasons including errors in battle preparation and not using everything you can to its full potential to win the battle. When I say everything you can, I mean new training regimens, calling up Liza to bring back Charizard, _everything_." Somehow, Ash could tell Gary's lecture was far from over.

"However, the main reason was the pokemon at the ranch were being neglected." Those words stung Ash like a sword stabbing his heart. How could he be so careless? He loves his pokemon! How could he have allowed this to happen! But he did have a reason which He was about to state when Gary's voice started to rise as he continued his rant. "Sure, they train every so often maybe even have a mock battle once or twice a week, but they aren't getting the attention they need in order to improve! You're pretty lucky they can even keep up their skills! I know they received a little training before the conference, but A LITTLE ISN'T ENOUGH! THEY DIDN'T GET WHAT THEY NEEDED IN ORDER TO BATTLE AT THEIR BEST!"

"How can I train all of them, though?" Ash asked. He was very confused. "And the reason why I leave them behind is because when I build a new team in a new region, I'm just with them and it helps me build a stronger bond with them. Also, if I bring back old team members, my new team might get offended because they might think that I think they aren't good enough."

"I can help with that," Professor Oak said. "I know a solution."

"Really?" Ash was having a complete mood swing which made the professor chuckle.

"Of course," Oak surrendered. "However, I have some business to deal with. One of the trainers sponsored by one of my colleagues has decided to visit me. He has brought pokemon from a far-off region that not many have heard of. I would like for you to battle my visitor."

"Is he strong?" Ash asked.

"Of course he's strong. He came Top 8 in his first league. Then, in Sinnoh, he came Top 4 just like you. In Johto, he got to the finals and he has won the Unova and Indigo Leagues."

"Unova?" Ash and Gary asked simultaneously. "Where's that."

"It's the far-off region from where he's coming from," Oak answered.

"Fine."

"Good. Now let's head back inside. He should be here soon," Oak said. The three headed back to the lab where Tracey was at the door having a conversation with a tall, male figure.

"I'm telling you, Oak is waiting for me. He knows me and he know's I'm a visitor," the figure said.

"Professor Oak didn't tell me anyone was coming today. Look, song-bit, or whatever your name is, I can't let anyone in unless-"

"It's Seunghin! Get my name right! Or, you can just call me Draik, which is the name I normally go by. Anyway- wait, Professor Oak?" Draik had just noticed Oak, Gary, and Ash walk inside. "There you are. Now tell your assistant to let me in!"

"Tracey, let Seunghin in. I know him. He's a visiting trainer. Sorry I forgot to tell you about him."

Tracey unhappily let Draik through the doorway. "Finally." Draik sighed in relief. "About time."

"Tracey, go do your duties. If I remember correctly, the starter pokemon for the new trainers need attending to," Oak told him.

"Fine, professor," Tracey conceded. He walked off to the nursery part of the lab and left the four to chat and do their business. After he left, the group went into the living room.

"So Draik. You requested a pokedex upgrade so you could carry more than twelve pokemon at a time, right? You even got another recommendation from Professor Birch."

"Right."

"Wait a minute, twelve?" Ash asked, clearly confused. "I thought you could only have _six_ pokemon on you at a time!"

Professor Oak was about to answer, but Draik cut him off.

"As I have won two major regional leagues, I am allowed a maximum of twelve pokemon at once. Of course, I needed a recommendation from Professor Birch, my home region's professor, which I got. Now I am requesting for an 18 pokemon limit, which is the equivalent of three full teams. And of course, I brought the recommendation from Professor Birch with me." Draik pulled out an envelope from his fleas' pocket sealed by a pokemon league stamp and handed it to Professor Oak.

The old man tore off the seal and opened the envelope, pulling out a clean, official-looking white sheet of paper. He quickly scanned the contents before setting it down and turning towards Draik.

"I approve of Birch's recommendation. However, first, could you do me a favor?"

"Sure."

"Thank you. I would like for you to battle Ash Ketchum, a veteran trainer who I sponsor." Professor Oak gestured to Ash who was sitting with them on the couch.

"What's the point of this test? This is completely unrelated to the matter on hand." Draik was clearly annoyed by this extra step. However, he shouldn't have showed it in his tone as it irritated Ash greatly.

"Hey! What's so bad about battling me? I'm not that bad," Ash protested.

"I can tell a lot about you from a single glance. Even though you are a veteran trainer, you still haven't won a major regional league. You're missing the intimidating air of power around you. But if you wish to battle, then so be it."

"For your information, Pikachu has defeated two legendary pokemon and Sceptile has defeated a Darkrai."

Draik was ignoring him for the most part, but at hearing Darkrai, he gave his full attention. "A Darkrai? Was it trained or wild?"

"It was trained of course!" Ash responded. "The trainer was Tobias who just won the Sinnoh league."

Draik barely heard the last part as his expression turned bitter. "That man," he cursed under his breath. Unfortunately for him, Ash heard him.

"What about him?"

"Let's just say he's competed in more leagues than the one he just won. Come on, let's go outside for the battle."

As they headed back out into the corral to find a safe spot for battling, Oak thanked Draik quietly. "Thank you for doing this, Draik," Oak said. _'I wonder how long Ash will last. Draik is a really tough trainer.'_

"No problem. I actually feel like having a little fun. It's nice to have a casual battle as a break from all the intensity of league battles."

Outside, Ash, Gary, Professor Oak, and Draik found a small clearing to battle in. Ash and Draik stood apart on the makeshift battlefield. Oak stepped in between them to act as referee.

"This will be a one-on-one pokemon battle between Draik Kim of Fallarbor Town and Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town. The match will be over when one side's pokemon is unable to battle. Ready?" The trainers nodded. "Begin!" With that, Oak walked off to the side.

"Pikachu I choose you!" His signature starter jumped off of his shoulder and onto the battle field.

Draik thought for a moment before sending out his pokemon. "The friends of yesterday are the enemies of today just as the friends of a few moments ago are the enemies of now. Hydreigon, complete the duties you have been given and eliminate the enemy!" He tossed a pokeball from his belt onto the field. Out popped a frightening, three-headed dragon with six pitch-black wings. It had a red mark going across its stomach.

Ash sweatdropped at his battle cry. "That was… long. And awkward."

"It's what I do," Draik replied. "Anyways, you can have the first move."

"Hold on. What's that pokemon?" Ash pulled out his pokedex to scan the new pokemon. However, he got a strange response he hadn't gotten in a long time.

"No data available. Specimen unidentified," Dexter said in his usual monotone voice.

"What? Why isn't the data available?" Ash said, clearly confused. "My pokedex includes data from the pokemon of all four regions!"

"That's because Hydreigon isn't from one of the four main regions here in Japan. He's from a faraway region known as Unova, located on the other side of the globe. Have you heard of Unova?"

"That was one of the league's Professor Oak said you won, right?"

"Right. I did win the league there. It was actually quite tough, but King pulled through for me in the end as he always has done." Draik started drifting back down memory lane before realizing he was about to have a battle. "Ah! Sorry. I was remembering things from Unova." Ash sweatdropped again at this.

"It's okay, Draik," Ash said. "But King? Who's that?"

"My starter. King is his nickname." Ash decided not to venture any further and refocused on the battle at hand. "Now just so this is fair, Hydreigon is a dual dragon and dark-type pokemon with the ability Levitate. Also, you can have the first move."

"Alright then. Pikachu use thunderbolt!"

"Dodge it, Dynal," he said immediately after Ash gave his command. Despite the fast charge time of thunderbolt, the attack barely missed him.

"Now counter-attack with a Dragon Pulse." A green orb of draconic energy formed in Dynal's mouth before he sent it at the electric mouse. The attack was backed up by a frightening roar from Dynal."

"Pikachu, dodge with Agility!" The small, yet agile mouse took off with hardly a millisecond to spare. "Now go into an Iron Tail!"

After running about 100 laps around the battlefield, Pikachu charged at Dynal with his tail glowing white as it became steel. However, Dynal still looked calm. "Hey! Are you taking this seriously?" Ash yelled across the field.

Just as Pikachu was about to hit Dynal, Draik called out, "Earth Power!" The three-headed dragon immediately dropped to the ground, temporarily deactivating his levitation ability and letting gravity do its work. As he made contact, the hard earth started to crack. After about another second, Pikachu had landed and the ground exploded, geysers shooting up sharp stones along with molten lava from underneath the Earth's crust. Pikachu naturally attempted to dodge with agility, a decision made purely on instinct, but he ran smack into some erupting earth. He fell down to the ground with a goofy expression on his face.

As Pikachu began to rise and the earth stopped bubbling, he started seeing Torchics in his vision, circling him, as if mocking him. He quickly shook his head back and forth, clearing his vision. Then, he heard his trainer's voice.

"Time to get serious, Pikachu," Ash yelled. Pikachu jolted to his feet, ready to fight once more. "Now use Thunderbolt repeatedly!

"Dynal, you didn't have to put so much energy into that attack," Draik reprimanded. "Honestly, I think you could've seriously injured Pikachu." Dynal grunted in response.

Draik could've sworn that his expression read 'Why should I care what happens to the mouse?'

"Fine, if you want to get serious, go ahead. I'm not one to stop you." Dynal began to grin madly as the arc of electricity started towards him. In one swift movement, he dodged and went straight for Pikachu. As he bit down on the mouse, he grunted, slightly surprised at the strength of the attack, but hardly fazed at all. He endured the pain and pulled an enormous amount of draconic energy and formed it into a ball surround the Pikachu in his mouse. The orb was colored blue with hints of black. Pikachu stopped his attack and found himself in the position he never wanted to be in. That position was the one of Conway's Shuckle in the Sinnoh League.

Ash simply watched in horrifying recognition of the attack, frozen by fear and unable to do anything. Even Gary's words of encouragement fell on deaf ears. Professor Oak simply watched in amazement of the spectacular combo move.

Completing the orb, Dynal tossed his heads up further into the air and Pikachu was sent flying. As the orb descended, a massive explosion occurred. It's power caused everyone down below to feel the power waves. The forces of energy washed over everyone, knocking some off of their feet. The explosion also caught the attention of a certain trainer's pokemon. The group of pokemon started heading towards the explosion to investigate.

Back at the battle field, a moderately sized crater in the center held a certain electric mouse. Dynal hovered in front of Draik who looked worriedly into the crater with absolute horror. Similar expression sat on the faces of Gary, Professor Oak, and Ash. As the dust from the impact explosion cleared, multiple sighs of relief drifted through the air. Six feet down laid Pikachu, clearly knocked out with multiple bruises scarring his body. Draik looked apologetically at Ash before Oak made the call to decide the battle. "Pikachu is unable to battle. Hydreigon is the winner. Therefore, the victory goes to Draik of Fallarbor Town!"

"Dynal, I know you wanted to do things seriously and I know you've been wanting to use that combo recently, but don't you think you over-did it a little?" Draik asked semi-sheepishly.

Dynal gave Draik an apologetic look before rubbing the back of his main head with his left one.

"You should be apologizing to Ash, not me. But for next time, don't over-do it on the power of Ultimate Meteor." Dynal grunted in acceptance before turning to Ash and giving an apologetic glance. Ash recognized it immediately and nodded.

"It's alright. I forgive you. I just hope Pikachu's gonna be alright." Gary was more interested in Hydreigon and started barraging Draik with questions.

"That was amazing! What was the combo move at the end? How do you train him? What do you feed him?" Gary lost all of his manly dignity and pride in this moment as he asked more and more questions. Ash and Professor Oak laughed at this, but Ash also saw this as a chance to get back at Gary.

"You sound like such a little kid, Gary."

"Shut up, Ashy-boy. You wouldn't understand how big of a deal this is for me. A pokemon from a new region is amazing, especially if the region's distance caused it's pokemon to develop differently!"

"Hey! I'm the one who's supposed to be excited about new regions!" Ash argued. A fight was starting to grow and in the commotion, only Professor Oak noticed Draik who was quietly slipping away back towards the lab.

Some amount of minutes later, Professor Oak stepped back out into the corral, determined to stop the brewing conflict between Gary and Ash. However, he was greeted by the strange sight of all of Ash's pokemon dog-piled on top of something. Gary was nowhere to be seen and was probably researching in the fields. Oak assumed the target of the dog-pile to be Ash and his assumption was proven to be true as the raven-haired boy crawled out of under the pile of pokemon with Gible attached to his head.

"Ash!" the old professor cried out worriedly. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm just fine Professor. I just hope I didn't break any bones." At hearing this, all of his pokemon gave him apologetic looks which he noticed. "It's alright guys. I'm feeling fine." They brightened up at hearing this.

"Good. We can't have you in the hospital when I need to upgrade your pokedex." At this, Ash entered a state of panic.

"Ah! I forgot! All of the commotion earlier made me forget about how you can help me with my problem." The pokemon tilted their heads in confusion as to what his problem was.

"Right. Now come with me and give me your pokedex." Ash dug out the machine from his jacket pocket and handed it to the old man. Professor Oak headed back towards the lab and went inside. Ash and Pikachu followed, leaving his pokemon in the dark. Along the way he noticed Draik was missing and decided to question the professor about it.

"Where's Draik?" Oak jumped in surprise, caught off guard for a moment.

"Oh. After getting the limit increase, he left for home. Not much to say."

"Okay," Ash said, accepting the answer.

Inside the lab, they headed towards a new room containing large assortment of machines appearing as if they had a lot of functions. Oak hooked up one of the machines to Ash's pokedex and sat down at one of the computers. After it booted up, a large amount of numbers and letters appeared inside brackets. It was very hard to read for Ash, but for the professor, he was looking at an image and modifying it.

"What are you doing, professor?" a curious Ash asked.

"As I can tell you are an extremely responsible trainer who is also quite experienced, as head professor of the pokemon league, I am allowed to extend the maximum amount of pokemon a trainer can carry at one time. Didn't you hear earlier? Anyway I am extending your limit to twelve pokemon."

"Really? That's so cool!"

"However, as not everyone can do this, whenever you enter an official battle area like a Gym or tournament, you can only have six of them on you," the professor explained. "All I have to do is modify your trainer data."

A few minutes later, the professor clicked one last confirm button and slid the pokedex out of the slot in the machine hooked to the computer. "Here you go, Ash." He gave the newly upgraded pokedex to the raven-haired trainer who took it eagerly and started fiddling with it. "Before you leave, can I talk to you about a couple of things?"

"Sure!" Ash responded enthusiastically.

"I would like for you to know why Draik to battle you. I wanted support for what Gary told you. Do you know why you lost?"

"Of course. It's because he was stronger than me. It shows through his league victories."

"But do you know why he is stronger than you?" This question immediately had Ash stumped.

"No, I don't know why he is stronger than me."

"It's because he trains all of his pokemon." Ash was about to retort, but Oak cut him off. "What I mean by that is when he goes to a new region he doesn't leave all of his pokemon behind. He's constantly training every single one of his pokemon. He doesn't restart his journey every year. All of his pokemon are always getting better. He takes things seriously and because of that, he's a fairly successful trainer, having two league victories under his belt." Ash digested the information Oak was feeding him when the old professor spoke. "You've seen how effective this is. His old pokemon can tutor his new pokemon and thus, his new pokemon respect his old ones. Look around at the ranch. You can see each time you bring some new pokemon, they get along fine with your old ones. His Hydreigon, apparently, was actually one of his newer pokemon, yet it decimated Pikachu when the two battled. The reason is because it gets tutelage from Draik's older pokemon. Thus, his Hydreigon is able to develop and get stronger in a smaller amount of time." Samuel paused. "The question is will you follow the example Draik is setting for trainers? He is an ideal example of the kind of person the pokemon community would want."

In a moment of silence, Ash thought about his answer. After a little bit, he responded. "Yes. I will follow Draik's example and win the next league I compete in." Professor Oak sighed in relief. Topic one was out of the way. Now to move onto topic two.

"Alright, Ash, now moving on, I have some good news. One of my colleagues, Professor Juniper, alerted me of a new discovery in the far away region she works in," he said. "She invited me to come and said I could bring along some friends if I wanted to. I was thinking of inviting you and Delia, so I told Juniper I was going to bring a trainer."

"Is this new region the 'Unova' or whatever from earlier?" Ash asked, thinking of a new adventure. After receiving a nod, he asked another question. "Does it have an official pokemon league?"

"The region is known as Unova and yes, it does have an official pokemon league," Professor Oak explained with a chuckle. "After all, there has to be a league there for Draik to win it. Anyway the pokemon there can't be found anywhere within the four regions which is another amazing aspect of Unova."

"Wow." Ash started daydreaming about a whole new world and lots of different pokemon to see.

"So Ash, are you coming?" the professor asked, snapping him out of his daydreaming.

"Wha- oh, yes!"

"The flight is tomorrow," Oak explained. "Don't forget to choose what pokemon you will take there aside from Pikachu."

"Right!" Ash scurried out the back door into Oak's Corral leaving the professor shaking his head.

'_The boy is still energetic as ever,'_ he thought with a smile.

Outside, Ash had arrived at the section of the ranch set aside for his pokemon only to have gotten tackled by all of his pokemon again. It was quite the humorous site especially since he was trying to escape their wrath. "Oww! Okay, I missed you too, Bayleef. Please don't cry Torkoal. Agh! Muk no need to-" Ash had just been swamped by his over-affectionate Muk, making Bayleef cry hysterically which in turn just made Torkoal cry harder. Eventually, after a few minutes of begging, hugging, and crawling, Ash finally got his pokemon organized and lined up. They were still confused about his problem, so Ash explained the whole situation which lead to what was happening now – the choosing of who was coming to Unova.

"Okay, so tomorrow I'm going to be going to the Unova region," Ash said, pacing back and forth like a military officer. "I'm taking five of you plus Pikachu so I will have enough room for a full Unova team. I need to decide who I'm going to take." Each of the pokemon, from Snorlax to the clueless Gible, to the over-emotional Bayleef listened intently. "Once I get there I can still rotate you around. I won't be neglecting you like these past years." He was glad to see the comradeship between his pokemon and knew any decision would be great as they could all work together well.

After a little more pacing, he made his choices and went into the lab to get his selected team's pokeballs.

"Sceptile, you're in. I'm going to need you to help tutor any new pokemon I catch in Unova." Sceptile nodded, then, like the lone-wolf character he was, simply went inside his pokeball without a word.

"Torkoal, I know you want to redeem yourself for your loss at the Sinnoh League and I feel as if I could train you a little better. You're in." Torkoal merely started crying hysterically in complete and utter joy before going into his pokeball.

"Corphish, I know you really want to improve and I haven't battled with you since Anabel of the Battle Tower, so I'm sorry for not giving you much attention. You're on the team now, though."

"Corphish cor!" he said with glee before going into his pokeball like Sceptile and Torkoal.

"I have two more slots left." At hearing this, the rest of the pokemon leaned in eagerly. "Gible, I feel like I didn't have a full journey with you. I'm going to give you more experience by taking you on this trip."

Gible cheered happiness present in his eyes' expressions. He accepted the red beam of his pokeball with a smile.

"I had a lot of trouble on this one," Ash said. "Glalie, I want to give you more experience…" Hearing this, Glalie('s face?) grew a smile. "… However, I also feel like Totodile has something he's close to achieving. He seems like he only needs a little push. Once he receives the push and achieves whatever he's close to achieving, I'll switch out for you, Glalie." Glalie seemed to accept this and stayed calm as Totodile was sucked into his pokeball. Everyone else looked down, sad because they were not picked, but Ash reminded them of something. "Don't forget, I'll be rotating everyone around, so you'll have plenty of time to train." At being reminded of this they all got smiles and retreated to their premises on their section of the corral. Satisfied, Ash went back into the lab to leave, go home and get some sleep.

As he left the lab, Oak called out to him. "I notified your mother of our departure for Unova tomorrow and how you'll be off on another adventure! Knowing her, she'll already be finished packing already." Ash nodded in response and put on a smile – something he hadn't worn in days because of his Sinnoh league loss – and headed home.

* * *

**Me: And cut! Whew, that was a tough one.**

**Ash: If I recall correctly, you actually wrote a 17 page chapter before and it had over six thousand words.**

**Me: Whatever. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter. Flames burn and I'm already injured enough, but I like constructive criticism.**

**Ash: Do you have to do this at the end of every chapter?**

**Me: Yes I do. Now SHUT UP! As per usual, favorite if you liked it. Future chapters will be even longer if possible. I'm really looking forward to this story.**

**Draik: Umm, I think you're forgetting something.**

**Me: Oh right! Please follow, I take advice to heart as long as it's not rude. Anyway, don't forget to R&R. Michael out**

**Draik: You're forgetting one thing. Some of the readers might not know how to pronounce my name.**

**Me: Oh, right! Sorry about that. The thing is, I don't even know.**

**Draik: WHAT?!**

**Me: I'm debating on whether it should be pronounced like the name of Hoenn Elite Four's Drake, or if it should be pronounced Dra-eek.**

**Ash: You're still forgetting something.**

**Me: No, I'm not.**

**Ash: Yes you are.**

**Me: No, I AM NOT! NOW SHUT UP OR GET OUT!**


	2. On the Road to Accumula Town

**Me: Hello and welcome back to Neo Unova Adventures. As stated before I believe, this chapter will be a lot longer.**

**Ash: Even longer than the last one! But it was 12 pages long, the last one!**

**Me: I know. Oh, where's Hilda. We can't start without her.**

**Hilda: *Comes in running and panting* I'm… here… we can… start… now… *collapses***

**Me: Well, change of plans. Hilda is not doing the disclaimer.**

**Iris: I can do it!**

**Axew: xew axew!**

**Me: Good… wait, Iris, when did you get here?**

**Iris: I was always here. I was just munching on the fruit you left in the basket on the table.**

**Me: Agh! That was for guests I was having tonight! Some of my reviewers were coming over and I was going to thank them properly for supporting me! But reviewers, if you're reading this, I truly am thankful for those who supported me through my time here on this site which, honestly, wasn't very long…**

**Ash: Well that's funny.**

**Me: Hey Ash, do CPR on Hilda. She doesn't appear to be breathing.**

**Ash: *Blushes* What?**

**Me: Or do you want her to possibly die?**

**Ash: *Rushes over and starts***

**Iris: Can we start now?**

**Me: Sure. No need to worry. As long as you do the disclaimer.**

**Iris: Fine. Michael doesn't own us so please don't sue him.**

**Me: Thank you. Let's get on with this.**

* * *

"Ash, wait up!" Hilda called after Ash. "Please slow down!" Luckily for her, Ash barely heard her and slowed down to a walking pace. Hilda quickly caught up panting. "You don't have to run so fast."

"I just can't wait to get started," Ash said. "… and get away from my mom."

"Is she really that bad?" Hilda asked.

"Yes, she is that bad!" he yelled. "Whenever I get a new girl for a traveling partner, she always says that I like her. Luckily, she's always been wrong, but it's still embarrassing!"

"Pika pika."

Silence. Then a large flock of silver birds flew quickly out of their trees and into the sky.

"Wow, what are those?" Ash quickly pulled out his pokedex and scanned them, but there was no data. "Agh! I forgot to get an upgrade before I left!"

"Don't worry, Ash, Professor Juniper noticed that you forgot something and gave me a box," Hilda said calmly. She handed him a small package which he eagerly ripped open. "I already got my pokedex so I assume that you have one inside the package." She was correct as he pulled out a gray and red device.

"Wow. Now let's finally catch some pokemon."

"Wait, first, your mom told me to give you this." Hilda pulled out the wristwatch-sized box from earlier. "Honestly, I don't know what's in it."

Ash slowly opened the small box. Inside was a small watch with a touch screen. The screen-holder was colored blue.

"Oh… my… gosh." To say Hilda was surprised is an understatement. "It's the newest model of the Xtransceiver! It allows up to four people to be on the same video call at the same time!" She quickly grabbed it from his hand, tapped the screen a few times, punched something in, and handed it back to him. "There. Now my Xtransceiver is registered on the hotkey 1."

"O… kay?" Ash just slapped it on his wrist and looked around for any wild pokemon. Suddenly, there was a small cry and the two heard something crash to the ground. "What was that?"

"I don't know, but it kind of sounded like a wild pokemon," Hilda replied.

"We need to help it!" Ash said urgently. He ran off without further warning to find the source of the noise.

"Wait up, Ash!"

Ash went off running like a madman towards the source of noise dodging branches and bushes. He arrived at a clearing where he found a small baby eagle-like pokemon and a small dove-like pokemon being attacked by what looked like a large raven. Hilda quickly caught up to him, panting.

"Hey, stop that!" Ash cried out to the raven-like bird. The bird turned to him and charged.

"Pikapi!"

"Pikachu use thunderb-" He was interrupted by the bird who charged at him with one wing glowing. The wing made contact in his stomach area and blew him back.

"Pika pi chu pika!" Pikachu yelled at the bird.

"Buzz buzz mandibuzz!" the raven pokemon yelled.

"Pikachu thunderbolt!" Ash tried to crawl over to the two baby pokemon, but winced as the pain came where the Wing Attack hit him. Pikachu disregarded his order and ran to help his trainer.

"Ash, no!" Hilda cried. "Tepig, I need your help!" She tossed her only occupied pokeball and out came the orange and black pig.

"Tepig," it said on entrance.

The raven was now gaining speed and swooping downwards towards the group. "Tepig, use Tackle Attack on the raven."

The raven shifted its wings to fit the wind currents and glided just enough so that it could hit Tepig instead of Ash who was scrambling with Pikachu to get the baby birds to safety. There was a power struggle between Tepig and Mandibuzz, the raven, but Mandibuzz, who was still unidentified, quickly won seeing as Tepig hadn't even gotten any training yet.

From the bushes off to the sides, two creatures were watching the scene. There was a bipedal white and blue sea otter and a quadrupedal, blue dinosaur like creature with a black coat. They watched as Ash pulled the babies away and sent Pikachu into battle to assist Tepig who was looking very tired.

"Pikachu, that pokemon is really strong," Ash informed Pikachu. "Use Thunderbolt!" Pikachu charged the electricity and quickly sent it towards the raven. Thunderbolt connected because it was distracted with finishing Tepig. However, it got back up after a little bit of struggling. "Quick Attack into Iron Tail!"

"Pi pi pi pi pi pi pi pi chu-PIKA!"

That was the final blow. It collapsed to the ground, fainted. Seeing the threat gone, the two baby bird pokemon slowly but still warily walked out of the bushes.

"Are you two alright?" Ash asked the birds.

"Let," the eagle said.

"Dove," the pigeon said.

"I wonder what kind of pokemon these are," Ash said to himself. He reached to where he normally had kept his pokedex during his past travels, but it wasn't there! He was grasping at nothing. He quickly grew alarmed. "Where's my pokedex? I need it! It's my ID, my source of information, everything…!"

Hilda just sweatdropped at his panic-attack. "You left it back at Juniper's Lab," she said plainly. Hearing this, Ash started to run away back towards the general direction of Nuvema Town, but before he got too far, he stopped as a red and gray rectangular object was shoved in his face. Sighing, Hilda said, "Juniper gave it to me because she saw you leave it back at the lab. Be glad about this." Ash snatched the pokedex out of her hand and quickly pointed it at the two birds.

"Pidove, the Tiny Pigeon Pokemon," the machine began. On the screen, it showed different views of the bird as it spoke. "A Pidove's flock cooing can get extremely noisy. It is not attracted to shiny objects."

He pointed the pokedex at the other bird and scanned it. "Rufflet, the Eaglet Pokemon. Rufflet's talons are powerful, able to crack open the strongest berries. It often challenges stronger opponents to battle." While scanning these two, Hilda had taken out her own pokedex and scanned the big black bird on the ground.

"Mandibuzz, the Bone Vulture pokemon," her pokedex said. "Mandibuzz swoops down from the sky, attacking weakened pokemon using its sharp, powerful claws and beak. It builds its nest out of bones it collects."

"It looks kind of scary," Hilda said with a shaky voice. "You can catch it."

"Actually, I already have two new captures," Ash replied with a small chuckle. He indicated to the two birds behind him who were waiting patiently. "They wanted to thank me for saving them by joining me. At least, that's what I got from Pikachu."

"Pika pika!" Pikachu agreed.

"Besides, if you're afraid of Mandibuzz, then you can get over your fear by getting close to him."

Hilda gave him a questioning glance. "How do you know it's a him?"

"Hmm, I don't know actually. That's strange, but everything should be in the pokedex." Ash went for his belt and reached for an empty pokeball but realized he didn't have any to capture the new birds with! Before he panicked, Hilda saw his intentions and brought out the missing pokeballs.

"You left them at Juniper's lab along with your pokedex," she said plainly, sweatdropping. "Here you go." She handed him the pokeballs and he quickly snatched a couple of them and placed them in front of the two birds.

"Remember, the final choice is yours. All you have to do is press the little button in the center-" That was as far as he got before Rufflet and Pidove willingly caught themselves. Realizing what just happened he picked up the two pokeballs and held them up doing his signature pose. "Alright! We caught a Rufflet and Pidove!"

"Pi Pikachu!"

Hilda was sweatdropping in the background. "More like they caught themselves," she said quietly.

* * *

"Admit it! We're lost!" Hilda yelled for the thousandth time in the past hours. After the incident with the birds, they had found out that they didn't know where they were because they were just following sounds when they found Mandibuzz, Rufflet, and Pidove.

Ash sighed in defeat. "Fine, I admit it. We're lost. But instead of complaining over this, we should be trying to find the way out of this Arceus-forsaken place!" He sighed again, but this time in reminiscence. "If only Brock were here." He whispered quietly. Hilda heard him.

"Who?" she asked curiously.

"Brock. He's an old friend and traveling companion of mine. He was a great chef and navigator during my past journeys. He's now studying to become a pokemon doctor." He paused. "Probably just so he can work and flirt with Nurse Joys," he added quietly as an afterthought.

She ignored the last part and was about to speak up when she was cut off by a foreign voice.

"I finally found the source of that noise!" Out of nowhere, a dark-skinned girl that looked to be about ten years old popped up in front of the two and started complaining immediately.

"You've been complaining about getting lost for the past hours! When will you just shut up! I've had enough of you two complaining like little kids! Geez!"

A small figure literally popped out of the girl's bushy hair and spoke in what appeared to be agreement with what was assumed to be her trainer said. "Xew axew!"

Ash ignored the girl in favor of the new pokemon and quickly pulled out his pokedex and scanned the new specimen.

"Axew, the Tusk pokemon," it began. "Axew marks its territory by making scratch marks on trees with its tusks, which regrow if they fall out. It also uses its tusks to crush berries so it can eat."

"Wow, that's a cool pokemon," Ash said in amazement.

"You think all pokemon are cool," Hilda remarked.

"Hey!" He protested. They were about to start fighting when the new girl interrupted.

"Stop arguing like little kids. My ears are already exhausted enough!"

They silenced and turned to her. "Who are you, anyways?"

"Oh, I forgot to introduce myself!"

'_Who's the little kid now,'_ Ash and Hilda thought simultaneously.

"The name's Iris Ryu, Dragon Master in training from the Village of Dragons," Iris said.

"Is there any reason you had for looking for us other than complaining?" Ash asked, annoyed.

"Yes, I thought I'd help you two out and get you on your merry way."

"Then help us out!"

"Alright, be patient. You're such a little kid. Anyways, the path to Accumula Town is just-" Before she could finish her statement, a pair of metallic hands grabbed Pikachu, Tepig, and Axew and dropped them in a glass box. Evil laughter was heard as three figures rose out of a giant Mecha that was holding the glass container that captured the three pokemon.

Ash noticed this and turned to face the thieves. "Who are you and what do you think you're doing with our pokemon!" He yelled angrily.

"Who are we? Oh, what a twerpish question indeed!"

"We'll answer that when we feel the need."

"Bringing the blinding white light of evil into the future."

"Thrusting the Hammer of Justice down onto the black darkness of the universe!"

"Carving our names in the Rock of Eternity!"

"The Fiery Destroyer, Jessie!"

"And with thunderous emotion, I am James!"

"Wisest of the wise, Meowth!"

"And now, gather under the name of Team Rocket!"

"Team Rocket!" Ash yelled in recognition. "I should've known."

"Team Who?" the two girls asked in confusion.

"Team Rocket," Ash said, beginning to explain. "They're a group of criminals who want to use pokemon to take over the world. This particular branch has been stalking me for years now, trying to capture Pikachu. Luckily, they're complete failures and fools who don't know what they're doing."

The girls nodded in understanding before turning towards Team Rocket. "Give us back out pokemon!" they demanded.

"I don't think so," Jessie said. "We finally caught Pikachu and some other rare pokemon as a bonus! There's no way we're giving them up now! Our plan finally worked on our very last try!"

"Wait a minute," Ash said. "Last try? What's that supposed to mean?"

James answered. "We've come to realize that we're wasting our time. However, we decided to give Pikachu one last try before we started our new mission we just got from the boss. He wants us to locate a pokemon known as Meloetta and capture-"

Meowth hastily interrupted with a Scratch attack to his face. "What're you doin', Jimmy boy! We're not supposed to reveal the bosses orders!" He yelled with his usual angry accent.

"Right, but now," Jessie began. She pressed a button on a remote control she pulled from out of nowhere and their signature Meowth balloon appeared behind them. The trio of thieves jumped into the carriage basket and she hit another button. The mecha whirred and tossed the glass box with the pokemon up in the air as the balloon rose. Out of the bottom came a hook that latched onto a metallic ring on top of the box. It carried the box away into the air along with the balloon.

"You've never won before and you most certainly won't win now! Sceptile, I need your help!" Ash tossed a pokeball into the air and out came Sceptile.

"Sceptile," it cried, getting in a battle stance.

"Wait, Ash, Sceptile won't be able to reach them all the way up there," Hilda pointed out.

"Also, if you break the line attached to the hook, the impact could really hurt our pokemon!" Iris added.

Ash grit his teeth in annoyance before remembering something. A light-bulb turned on inside his head as he got an idea. "I know!" He tossed another pokeball into the air and out came Pidove. He quickly scanned her with his pokedex and found that she knew Ariel Ace, Gust, Quick Attack, and Air Cutter. Then, he got to work with this plan.

Team Rocket sat obliviously in their balloon, gloating over their success. Then, out of nowhere, they felt their weight lighten as the glass box dropped from the balloon.

"Hey, what was that?" James asked. "For some reason, the balloon feels lighter." He stood up and peeked over the edge and noticed that the stolen pokemon were missing. "Oh no! The pokemon got away!"

"What?" Jessie and Meowth scurried scurried to check and got the same reaction as James. Down below Sceptile had caught the glass box and freed the pokemon who were happy to be back with their trainers.

"Lower the balloon!" Jessie ordered angrily. The two boys noticed her temper and quickly followed her orders, making the balloon drop in altitude drastically. She sent out her Woobat to fight for the pokemon. "Give back those pokemon! We stole them fair and square, twerp!"

The response she got was not what one would expect. It was a Water Gun to the face that appeared out of nowhere. James got a similar response of a Dragon Rage.

"Hey, where'd that come from?" Ash asked to himself down below.

He looked up and saw the pokemon Jessie sent out.

"That's a Woobat!" Iris informed. Ash still scanned it with his pokedex.

"Woobat, the Bat pokemon. It inhabits dark places like caves. Woobat observes its surroundings by releasing ultrasonic waves from its nostrils."

"That's a cool pokemon." Ash looked at Woobat in slight awe but was interrupted by Jessie.

"Woobat, use Air Slash!" Woobat began flapping its wings very fast and created two disks of pure aerial energy. It then sent the disks flying towards Sceptile with a final flap.

"Sceptile, dodge it quick!" Ash yelled. Sceptile's forest instincts kicked in and dodged to the side of the Air Slash just in time. "Now follow it up with a Leaf Blade!" He tensed, then jumped towards Woobat with his arm blades glowing green with natural energy.

"Scep- TILE!" His blades struck their target and Woobat fell towards the ground.

"Woobat, get up!" Jessie yelled in concern for her pokemon.

"Wow, she actually seems genuinely concerned for Woobat for once," Ash said in surprise. Woobat, hearing its trainer's words and desperation slowly began to get up.

Seeing his partner in peril, James decided to enter the fray. He tossed a pokeball and out came a strange mask pokemon.

"What's that?" Ash asked in confusion. He scanned the new pokemon with his dex once more.

"Yamask, the Spirit pokemon. Yamask is a Ghost-type that wanders the ruins of ancient civilizations," Dexter said in his usual monotone voice.

"Yamask, use Shadow Ball!" James cried.

Yamask began charging up ghostly energies into a large ball in front of it. "Ya-MASK!" With a cry, it sent the ball flying at Sceptile and it made contact, damaging him.

"Woobat, get up! Please!" Hearing its trainer once again, Woobat finally got the energy to get up and start flying again.

"Great, Woobat! Now use Heart Stamp!" Jessie yelled.

A crimson red heart appeared in Woobat's eye and creepily came out of it. As soon as it came out, it flew towards Sceptile who just barely managed to dodge.

"Sceptile, finish Woobat off with another Leaf Blade! Then use Leaf Storm on Yamask!"

Sceptile jumped in the air with a familiar natural energy surrounding his blades and swung said blades at Woobat. The bat fell limp after the second slash and went plummeting towards the ground. Then, still in the air, leaves began to gather around him. They glowed and shot forwards like a cyclone storm at Yamask. James at seen the attack and readily countered it.

"Yamask, counter with Shadow Ball!" However, it was useless. The powerful Leaf Storm attack from the more experienced Sceptile cut through the weak Shadow Ball like a hot knife through butter. Some stray leaves reached Team Rocket's balloon and popped it.

"Ahhhh! Not again! Owa last trwy on da twerp's Pikachu can't end like dis!" Meowth shouted as the balloon went crashing down like so many times before.

"Pikachu, finish them off the classical style! Thunder!" The air around Pikachu began crackling with electricity as Pikachu gathered all the energy stored in his system. With a cry, he ran towards Team Rocket and jumped high in the air and released as much electricity as he could.

"Pi-ka-CHUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!" The lightning storm struck Ash and the girls as well, frying their hair. The electricity short-circuited the fire source in the balloon. Everything went silent as Pikachu started falling towards the ground. Then, an enormous explosion occurred and sent dust flying everywhere. A mushroom cloud appeared at the top as the Team Rocket trio went blasting off in their uniforms for what they hoped was the very last time. James had even prepared a mini-speech in case they failed to capture Pikachu.

"We've been following Pikachu and the twerp for years now. We've been with them thick and through many events on both sides of the battlefield. I remember when we jumped off Lugia in the Orange Islands to help the twerp reach their destination quick enough. And then, the not-so-good times when we failed. Of course, there were successes, but the twerp got Pikachu back before we could give him to the boss. I remember-"

"James, shut up! We don't have the time to listen to your monologue." James ignored his partner and continued.

"I remember before this final attempt the mission we got from the boss and how I reminisced. The game of chess has been fun, but now, the endgame is complete. Checkmate. I will miss chasing the twerps, but this time in my life, I will always remember forever."

Meowth had started to tear up at the end. Somehow, Ash and the crew heard him all the way down on the ground. By the end, he was crying and even Jessie was starting to bawl.

"So sad.

"I know… the good times will always be remembered."

Together, they said these last words. "For the six-hundred… ninety-ninth time, looks like- looks like Team Rocket is… blasting off again!"

The words were ended when a faint ding was heard signaling the end. Silence enveloped the clearing, but Iris broke it quickly. She had been reunited with Axew and started hugging Ash tightly.

"Thank you sooooo much for saving my little Axew!" she gushed. "I don't know what I'd do without him! Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!"

Deep down inside, Hilda started to feel a slight boiling anger. It started to grow and grow, but stopped when Sceptile picked up Iris to stop her from suffocating his trainer.

"Y'now, I think I'm actually going to miss that trio," Ash said.

"What? But they just tried to steal our pokemon!" Hilda protested. "They're evil!"

"Yeah!" Iris agreed.

"It's just… I have so many memories with them." He started taking a stroll down memory lane. "I remember, one time, when they had me cross-dress so I could get into the Celadon Gym. Erika, the Gym Leader had banned me because I didn't like perfume." The girls pouted at hearing this. "And then, one time, on Shamouti Island, they helped me save the world by dropping off Lugia. I didn't know at the time, but apparently, they thought they were slowing us down and they jumped. There were other times over the course of my journey when they helped me. I actually felt bad for James once when I heard about his family background. You have to understand that they're not all bad."

That little speech caused the girls to go silent. However, it did not last long as Iris broke it again.

"CanIcomewithyouonyourjourneythroughUnovaandbeagui de?" she asked.

"What?" Ash and Hilda asked in confusion.

"I was wondering… if I could come with you… on your journey through Unova… y'now, like a guide, since I know my way around. That's what I was about to ask you before we were interrupted by those clowns."

"Of course you can!" Ash quickly responded. "The more, the merrier, I always say." Hilda was not so enthusiastic for some reason.

"I guess you can come along." But here tone and eyes spoke differently. Luckily, Iris didn't notice.

"Alright then! Let's get on the road to Accumula Town!"

As the now-threesome **(A/N: Not like that, you perverts!)** walked away into the sunset, they had completely forgotten about the mysteries of the Water Gun and Dragon Rage attacks that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere.

* * *

**Me: Yes! Hooray! I'm finally done with this Arceus-forsaken chapter! Yes!**

**Iris: You're such a little kid.**

**Me: Shut up.**

**Ash: Does Iris really have to come along?!**

**Me: Yes, she does have to come along. I can't wait to get to the… drama…**

**Ash: *Shivers***

**Iris: Ash, you're such a little kid, complaining about things like this.**

**Hilda: Anyway, let's get on with the author's note!**

**Me: Right! First thing's first. Sorry for the short chapter after such a long wait. This is only about 4000 words in around 10 pages. I feel pathetic. Speaking of pathetic, I have a special surprise for next chapter. Guess who?**

**Ash: Pathetic? Where have I heard that before? Wait a minute… It's-**

**Hilda: *Clamps Ash's mouth shut* Don't reveal it to the readers. They already have enough hints.**

**Me: Virtual cookie if you guess it right in a review! Cilan is cooking- wait. Cilan isn't here. I guess my sister will have to cook them.**

**Hilda: Speaking of reviews…**

**Me: Right! About reviews. I love them. Constructive criticism is always helpful. Flames aren't. Luckily, I'm fireproof!**

**Ash: How?**

**Me: It's called Protect, Mirror Move. Onto other matters, I am looking for a beta reader. Another set of eyes on this will greatly help.**

**Ash: Are you done yet?**

**Iris: You're such a little kid. Can't you be patient?**

**Ash: You see what I mean?**

**Me: Ash, you can go outside and train with Hilda.**

**Ash: Yay! *Runs outside***

**Me: Now that that's done, it's time for the final notes. Please favorite it you like this as always. Don't forget to follow if you're just joining us now. I will be updating other stories, but I have this idea I'm itching to write up. After I write and post that, I will be writing the next chapter to Return of the Fortress General which has a new summary! And, it's a much better one too. Anyways, *Checks list* one more thing. Sorry if the words felt empty or the quality is dropping. I couldn't find much motivation to write and thus, I don't feel anything when I write. When I normally write, my words are full of feeling. *Checks list again* That's the last of them. Goodbye. I'm done here. Michael out**


End file.
